Tag: Portland

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Portland Differences #5 – Fred Meyer

In Minnesota, you go to Target, or Walmart, or Shopko, or something else. In Portland, you go to Fred Meyer (wikipedia). Fred Meyer is a grocery store type Walmart but nicer type store. It usually has a Starbucks, electronics area, organic section, etc. There is one a few blocks from my apartment, and there are stores all over the city (all over the Northwest for that matter).

It is a refreshing change from running to Super Target every other day, or Walmart, or even Cub Foods or Coborns Grocery store.

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Starbucks – 2nd Office, and Barfly Mag

I have really never been to a Starbucks before, aka “I hate coffee”. Well, there are tons of them around my apt, and since I have T-Mobile hotspot on my phone plan, I might as well use it. Today I ventured out to a nearby Starbucks, laptop in hand.

Since I don’t really like coffee, I decided to try their new Orange Creme Frappuccino. Whoa, good. But $4.05! It was pretty empty when I got here, and I had some issues getting on the Internet. Not sure, I had them reboot the router, and it worked. Pretty nice, air conditioning, music in the background, people sitting around, and I can get work done at the same time. There are power outlets scattered around (not enough in my opinion), and since it was empty when I came, I got a table close to an electrical outlet.

Since moving to Portland, I am contracting, so I have been working out of my apt, so now, I have a ton of “2nd offices” two or three within a few blocks of my apt, depending if I want to walk East of West. Next, to find some good local shops with reliable Wi-Fi as well.

And for the after work Internet fix – bars with Wi-Fi. There is this awesome site, Barfly Magazine, that lets you search on location and amenities at pubs around PDX, and here is the search for Wi-Fi. If you want air-conditioning, etc, you can filter it all out there, pretty sweet.

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Portland Differences #4 – Apartments with Recycling

Since I moved into my apartment here in Portland, there is one thing I noticed. They make it really easy to recycle. All the places I lived at in Minnesota, none of them offered recycling. Here, when I moved in, I was given instructions on how to do it, etc.

One small difference, but really a huge one in a way. Most apartments don’t recycle at all, and there are a ton of people who live in apartments. All the plastic and glass for sure is easy enough to recycle, so why not?

 

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Jamming – Craigslist and Audio Cinema

As I mentioned in a previous post, I met up with some guys that I met through Craigslist on the musicians forums, and we jammed on Wednesday night.

We met up at Audio Cinema, in the an area full of warehouses on the SE side of Portland. At first I couldn’t find the place, it was like under a bridge and just like in a weird street, but finally found it.

We rented a jam room for 2 hours (15 and hour) which came with a PA already set up.

I brought my acoustic guitar and a mic, and there was 3 other guys, a electric guitar, a bass, and drums. We jammed out pretty good, played a couple covers to just get warmed up, then we just started playing different chord changes to see what we could come up with.

It was very laid back, no pressure, and a fun time. The other guys have wives and kids, so it isn’t like we will be rock stars or anything. We plan on getting together again in a week/2 weeks. Should be fun.

Oh yeah, hit up the Kingston which is like 3 blocks from my apt for some beer and nachos (don’t even get me started on nachos, its like the 20th time I have had them in 2 weeks!)

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Portland Differences #3 – 200 ft blocks

Around where I live in Portland, the Northwest District off Burnside Street, between 21st and 23rd avenue, it is filled with shops and restaurants and bars.

This is great for walking around, and even better when the block sizes are half-size city blocks (200 feet vs. the standard 400-foot).

My only guess is that when designing the blocks, they wanted to encourage walking, but also wanted to keep the sizes small for another (valuable) reason. Corner lots are worth tons more to developers than non-corner lots. I am sure many real estate developers have lined their pockets because of the extra cash they can charge for a corner lot, and in Portland there are twice as many!

here is a Portland block on the left, and a St. Cloud block on the right

image

You can see the Portland block is about half the size from north to south, but a tad longer on west to east. (This is not a scientific proof, I just pulled 2 random blocks from Google maps :))

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Open Mic Night – Cheerful Pit Stop

Last night, we headed to the Cheerful Pit Stop in Beaverton, Oregon for some food and it was open mic night. The backup band was 24/7.

I had my guitar, but no strap, but I sang a few songs. “What I Got” by Sublime, “Hound Dog” by Elvis, and “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix.

It was a fun time, the band members switch out, some real good guitar players, drummers, etc. Might just have to head back there next week 🙂

As you can see, having fun:

Open Mic Night

On that note, meeting up with 3 guys tonight to jam to see if we want to start something up, should be cool.

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Portland Differences #2 – Booze in Gas Stations

To continue on my last Portland Differences post about gas stations, there is another thing different about gas stations. Booze. Well, not booze, but wine and beer. And it ain’t 3.2%.

Every gas station, 7-Eleven, or whatever store, they have tons of beer and wine for sale, pretty much like a liquor store.

In Minnesota, you can buy booze in the gas station, but it is weak 3.2% beer, which if you don’t realize it, if you start drinking it, you don’t feel it. Like water.

So, no late night jaunts to the liquor store in Oregon, just run and get gas, let the guy fill it up for you while you go get a bottle of wine.

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Portland Differences #1 – Getting Gas

In Portland, and I think in Oregon, it is illegal to pump your own gas. Here is a good article I found from the Seattle PI the does a good job of explaining it.

It really reminds me of being very young in Minnesota where all the gas stations had pump jockeys. You paid more for having them pump your gas and wash your windshield, or you could save a few cents and pump it yourself. Now, nearly all gas stations are self serve, except Oregon and New Jersey.

Just is odd when you go to get gas and they do it for you. I usually get out and just walk around and stretch my legs while I wait. Just one of the many differences between Oregon (and Portland) and Minnesota.

 

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Pedalpalooza 2007 – The Naked Ride

Ok, so last night I didn’t do much, well, watched Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. I think I have only seen them once, where the first Matrix I have seen like 1000 times. Around 12:10 AM, I start hearing screams and hollers and honking and craziness outside my window. I had the blinds closed, so I open them up, and what do I see?

700 people on bikes. Naked.

I would have taken a picture but I don’t want my blog to be XXX rated, so just imagine it.

What it is, is Pedalpalooza. Well, the naked ride is just part of the week long event. Pretty crazy though, the people were coming by for like 45 minutes to an hour, just screaming.

From the FAQ: Isn’t this illegal? The city of Portland wishes it was. See The Law.

One week in Portland and I am already seeing crazy things, who woulda thought? Maybe I would have joined them, if my bike wouldn’t have gotten jacked like 4 years ago from my garage (well, I probably still wouldn’t join them, maybe though :))

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PGE: Portland General Electric – Online

Today I set up my electricity at my apt. Well, one thing that was different than the past was that I did it all online. Instead of calling and waiting for 30 minutes on hold and giving out all my info, I filled it in online and submitted a start request. Pretty easy and convenient. Being new to Portland, and coming from Minnesota, this is the first time dealing with anyone but Xcel Energy. Portland General Electric seems pretty cool, and they sponsor the local baseball field (PGE Park – but I suppose, Xcel has the Xcel Energy Center :))

PGE Park

Overall – a good experience.

http://www.portlandgeneral.com/

 

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